Defective
by Eternal-Cassandra
Summary: Whatever calm there was shatters when Bobby finds Mary brutally beaten on the side of the road. Now, it's up to Bobby and Marshall to find out exactly who was behind her attack, before he strikes again. Strong T for occasional language.
1. Broken

**My first IPS story so you all should know what do: R&R, right? :)**

Summary: Whatever calm there was shatters when Bobby finds Mary brutally beaten on the side of the road. And now, it's up to Bobby and Marshal to find out exactly who was behind her attack, before he strikes again.

"The only way Mary wouldn't stop by work is if she had an emergency with a witness, but she would still call in and let us know what was going on, and I can tell you now that she neither stopped by, or called. I've called her sister and she hasn't even seen Mary since last night," Stan's voice slowly rose as his anger levels continued growing higher. "Screw whatever protocols you have about filing a missing person's report; she needs to be found NOW!"

Bobby sighed, "Alright, I'll see what I can do when I get back to work. In the meantime, keep trying to contact Mary. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"I hope you're right, Detective," Stan began to calm down. "Keep me informed."

Stan hung up and Bobby glanced down to make sure his phone landed in the empty cup holder. Mary Shannon definitely wasn't on his list of favorite people in the world, and even though she gave him hell more than three-quarters of his life, she had to be number one priority on his list. Suddenly, out of nearly nowhere, his lights caught sight of something in the road. He swerved to the left to avoid hitting the thing and quickly stopped his car. Immediately, he opened his glove box and grabbed his flashlight. Slowly, he moved towards the thing. As he got closer, he noticed the form of a woman, her hair almost a puke looking like color. Bobby backed away only to grab his phone and dial 911. He informed them of the situation and then returned to the woman to continue his assessment.

Pulse, thready. Breathing, shallow. Alive, definitely, but it was a complete miracle judging by her obvious injuries. Grabbing a napkin from his pocket, he used it to move some of the woman's hair out of her face. Bobby gasped from shock. He knew that face, the scraps and bruises made it difficult to really see, but he knew it. This was Mary Shannon, and by God, this was not good. Not good whatsoever.

Bobby looked up at the sound of sirens and noted their speedy entrance. "Mary, if you can hear me, this is Bobby. We're going to get you to the hospital as soon as possible. Keep hanging on."

"Marshall..." Mary barely whispered, before stilling again.

"Just hang on!" Bobby said softly as he heard sirens approaching.

An ambulance pulled up and only a mere second after it stopped, EMTs started coming from the vehicle prepping Mary for transport. He quickly asked where she was being taken before backing off to his car. Stan and Marshall needed to know ASAP.

"McQueen, I got some bad news..."


	2. In Pieces

**Thank you all so much for the reviews, favs and alerts. They mean so much to me. This is where the language alert pops in along with the warning of major drama...**

_My insides all turned to ash, so slow  
And blew away as I collapsed, so cold  
A black wind took them away, from sight  
And held the darkness over day, that night  
Linkin Park: Valentine's Day

* * *

_

3:30. He had been staring at the alarm clock for a long while, continuously smacking the top of it to try and shut it off before he woke up enough to realize that while his alarm was silent, his phone, however, was not. He reached behind the clock, grabbed and opened his phone, effectively shutting it up.

"Lo?" he yawned.

"Marshall, it's Stan. We got Mary; she's in the hospital."

At the very mention of Mary's name, Marshall snapped to full alert and started to get dressed. "Which hospital? How is she?"

"Albuquerque General, and I'd perfer for you to get here first before I answer that second question."

"I'm on my way," Marshall replied flipping the phone shut and grabbed his keys off the hook next to the door. His shaking hands could barely lock his front door as he was leaving. The very millisecond he heard it click, he rushed to his SUV, never noticing the fact that he hadn't done up his shirt or put on a coat. As he rushed to the hospital, he had only one thing on his mind. Mary. Mary was all that mattered now. Mary and her safety. His instincts told him to prepare for the worst, as much as he really didn't wanted to. Mary had to be okay, she just had to. He had to see her beautiful light chocolate brown eyes and hear her snarky, sarcastic remarks again. She had to be alright. She had to be alright.

As soon as he could find a space, he parked near the hospital entrance and burst in through the Emergency Entrance doors. Coming to a stop at the nurse's station, he directed his question to the blonde nurse sitting there.

"I'm looking for a Mary Shannon who was brought here earlier?"

"And who do you think you are?" the nurse scoffed.

Worried, annoyed, and in no mood to put up with the crap that the nurse was trying to pull, he flashed his badge.

She giggled and replied, "Nice uniform."

Marshall glanced down and was caught off guard when he finally noticed his shirt still wasn't done up. Refusing to give in to the embarrassment that the nurse was trying to cause, he demanded, "Where is she?"

She sighed, "Down the hall and to the left in the surgical unit. There's a," she looked down to find a sticky note, "Stan McQueen and a Detective Dershowitz waiting for you there."

He nodded and quickly hurried down the hallway, once out of line of sight, he began buttoning up his shirt before his boss would be able to see him. As he turned the corner, he noticed the two men sitting in the waiting room chairs. Never before had Marshall seen them looking so terrible. Never before had Marshall had the fear of God been put in him. It wasn't even this bad when Mary was kidnapped by that Spanky character. Just how bad was Mary's condition?

Stan looked up to notice Marshall standing frozen in place. He stood and came over to the younger marshal but he too froze when he heard the man's voice ask shakily, "How is she?"

Stan looked back towards Bobby, and the detective sighed, "Do you want the short bad news or the long bad news."

Before Marshall could reply, Stan pulled him towards the chairs and sat him down.

"Long," he choked. "I have to know just how bad it is."

Bobby grimaced, "The doctor told us that she has a dislocated shoulder, her left forearm and left fibula are broken, her right ankle is fractured, two ribs are broken and one caused a punctured lung. Marshall, she's so beaten, bruised and cut up that if I didn't see her on a damn near daily basis I wouldn't have been able to recognize her."

The look of desperation on Marshall's face scared them, "Tell me this is just some April fool's joke come a month late?"

All they could do was shake their heads. A few minutes past, and Bobby asked softly, "Should someone call her family?"

Marshall growled inwardly. No, he didn't think they deserved to know. They were selfish beggars preying on the stronger woman. However, he knew that his own feelings for Mary shouldn't stop him from doing the right thing. Jinx and Brandi were her mother and sister after all.

"I'll call them," he replied and headed back out the way he came, scrolling down his contacts list for Mary's home number, hoping however that the phone had been destroyed when Agent O'Connor had wrecked his havoc over the Shannon household. He was dissappointed when after only one ring a very drunk Jinx Shannon answered the phone.

"It is four in the fucking morning, couldn't you have called in a couple more hours at a more decent time."

It took all Marshall's willpower to not hang up that very second out of anger. "This is Marshall, Mary's partner," he reminded the distasteful woman.

Jinx scoffed, "She still hasn't come back. That bitch of a daughter probably abandoned us. How could she abandon her own mother?!?"

Marshall gave in to the swiftly arising temptation and exploded, "How could you think she abandoned you? Time in and time out she has helped both you and Brandi with your random bad choices. She's allowed you both to move into her home, eat her food, live off her paychecks, and you have the audacity to think that she abandoned you? She's lucky to be alive and all you can think is that she abandoned you. I don't even know why I'm telling you this, but she was beaten to within an inch of her life. Mary doesn't deserve to have had this happen to her, and you and Brandi both don't deserve to have her in your lives. If you can bear to lift yourself out of your self pity, she's at Albuquerque General Hospital."

He hung up and collapsed along the side the wall, tears finally falling down his cheeks. Whoever did this to Mary would pay for what he did to her. He wouldn't get the satisfaction of getting away.

Once Marshall was able to calm down enough to be presentable, he went back inside to see if there was any new news. Fortunately he arrived just in time to see whom he presumed to be Mary's doctor talking to Stan and Bobby.

"I assume you are Marshall Mann?" the doctor asked as soon as she noticed his presence. Marshall nodded. "It's nice to meet you, though I wish it could have been on better circumstances. I'm Dr. Kerrigan."

"Nice to meet you too," Marshall shook her hand. "How's Mary?"

"Did Detective Dershowitz inform you of her condition?" At his nod, she began to inform her of her new condition. "She's still in critical condition, mainly from her blood loss. We've sucessfully repaired her lung and put on all the casts she needed with exception to her fractured ankle, as we need to wait until the swelling goes down. She'll still unconcious, but I expect her to wake up on her own within a few days."

Marshall sighed in relief. Mary was still alive!

"When can we see her?"

"You may see her now, but I'll only allow two people to see her at a time until she recovers some more."

Bobby backed away, "You two should see her first; I'm going to talk to my boss and try and get her case."

They followed Dr. Kerrigan to the door of a small ICU room where she stopped. "Are you ready for this?"

Solemnly, they nodded but when that door was opened they knew they could have never been ready to see the sight before them. Nothing Marshall had done, seen or experience in his life could have prepared him for what was in front of him. He still wasn't sure if this might not actually be a nightmare. The way she looked in that bed made him feel as if someone had hit him across the chest with a bat.

"God Mary, what happened to you?"

**It would make my day to see some reviews when I get up in the morning. :)**


	3. Fighters

**Sorry about the delay there, but if I could get high off of happiness I seriously would be. 10 reviews for that last chapter?1?! Maybe I shouldn't try and update on a daily basis. Wait hang on a sec, my mind is being overloaded with voices here... Huh? You guys don't want me to wait to update? Shit... there goes that idea...**

**LOL, just kidding. I seriously am happy that you all are enjoying this, and please do keep up with the reviews! Mostly a Bobby/Agent O'Connor chapter as this case is just as important as Mary getting all better. We can't have Mary going into Witness Protection Program until she's dead now can we? And besides, I think we can at least have one laugh in this story at Bobby kicking O'Connor's big arrogant butt, right? :D**

**Like most other stories, italics are thoughts. (Obviously with exception to the song, lol)**

_This is how we'll dance when  
__When they try to take us down  
__This is how we'll sing, oh  
__This is how we'll stand when  
__When they burn our houses down  
__This is what will be, oh glory  
__Paramore: Let The Flames Begin

* * *

_

Agent O'Connor stepped into the Police Department, his face flushed in anger. The fact that one of his main suspects that could possibly be holding crystal meth was in the hospital, and was in critical condition angered him. Where the hell would his case go if a main suspect died? He came up to the receptionist with one purpose in mind: To get Mary Shannon's case so he could keep a full eye on his suspect and possibly get easier access to the other suspects and get information from them.

"I need to see Detective Dershowitz right away."

"And whom may I ask is requesting a meeting," she asked in an obnoxious tone.

She made the agent want to grind his teeth. "Tell him Agent O'Connor of the FBI is here to speak with him." His voice had an edge to it that could have cut steel.

The woman squeaked at the mention of FBI. "Yes sir. I'll get the detective right away for you." She jumped up and scurried towards the door that lead to where the Detectives worked. When she came back she was escorted by the Detective who glared at O'Connor as if he knew exactly why he came here.

Bobby had already known of the Agent's reputation for being a pain in the ass, but he tried to be as courteous as possible. "How may I help you Agent O'Connor?"

"I'm here to collect the file on Mary Shannon's attack."

Bobby had to flex his fingers in order to avoid punching the arrogant man. "What makes you think you can take her file? This isn't a federal matter."

"It is now, as it pertains to my case against the Shannon household. It's a likely her attack was one of the guys close to Neil 'Spanky' Carson."

"Actually, I believe you are wrong," Bobby smirked slightly at O'Connor's growing irritation. "Miss Shannon had a few bruises and scrapes when she was kidnapped a few months ago. If the guys that attacked her just last night were close to Spanky, why the hell didn't he use them when he went to kidnap her?"

"I don't care who the hell you think could have or could not have attacked her. I don't even see why her case is so important to you that you just can't accept that I want this case, and I will do everything in my power to get this case. I'm surprised, however, that something like this hasn't happened before as she probably had this coming for a long while now."

The detective looked shocked for barely a second before his gaze grew murderous. "I have to admit, you certainly are lucky her partner wasn't here to say that and I couldn't possibly say what he would do as no one here would have seen it to arrest him for assaulting a federal officer. But listen to this, Robbie," Bobby sneered his name. "No woman deserves to be beaten to near death, especially not this woman. For now, I suggest you leave this building and leave me and the Shannon family alone. If I have to throw you out of here myself, I guarantee you will regret it. And just so we're clear, I will take your attitude towards a beaten woman up with your superiors. If you feel that way about such a violent crime, you shouldn't be a cop, in which case I'd suggest you start looking for a new job."

Agent O'Connor's face turned white but he managed to get just enough of his ego back to whisper fiercely, "I could arrest you right now for threatening me."

Bobby laughed, "Threaten you? That was NOT a threat." His face turned serious, "That is exactly what will happen. I don't do threats."

Bobby turned around back towards his desk leaving the ashen-faced agent standing there in shock. Just as he plopped down into his chair, his phone began to vibrate slowly across his desk. Immediately, he answered it.

"Detective Dershowitz."

"We found something on the woman's shirt." Bobby recognized the voice of one of the CSI lab people.

_Finally, we're getting somewhere._ "What did you find?"

"Oleoresin Capsaicin."

"What's that in English?" Bobby growled.

"It's a key ingredient in pepper spray. The area in which the ingredient is found suggests it was used on her."

He sighed, "That helps explain how she ended up this way."

"That's all we've found so far, but we'll continue to inform you of any updates."

Bobby quickly thanked the man and hurried back out to his car to drive back to the hospital.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Bobby was headed for Mary's hospital room. He opened the door silently and glanced in. Marshall was in a seat barely a foot away from the bed, and Stan sat in a chair up against the wall with near a mountain of files. He knocked to announce his presence. They looked up and they followed his lead back out of the room.

"Have you found out anything yet?" Marshall immediately asked upon the door closing behind them.

Bobby sighed, "The only good news I have is that I do have control of the investigation. Bad news I don't think you'll like." He waited a few seconds, allowing the men to prepare for his news. "Mary's attacker had sprayed her in the face with pepper spray."

"By God," Stan moaned.

"That explains why she wasn't able to fight back like she normally would have been able to," Marshall murmured.

"Marshall," Stan said softly, noting the inspector's tired tone, "you should go home, get some rest, get something to eat."

He shook his head, "I won't leave her alone. You guys should go. I'll call if there's any change."

Bobby and Stan nodded, and Stan placed a hand on the taller man's shoulder comfortingly before disappearing down the hallway. Marshall turned around and headed back into the room to sit in his seat right next to his partner. He stared at her still form. He hesitated a moment before taking her hand gently into his bigger one, just holding her hand made Marshall feel like she was going to be okay. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. _She would probably kick my ass if she caught me talking to her, or if she actually could hear me now._ The thought helped him make up his mind.

"Hey Mare." It was such a simple gesture, but those two words made him feel tension he hadn't known he had been carrying to leave his body. He slowly began stroking his thumb back and forth across the soft skin on the back of her hand.

"Bobby D is working on your case. It shouldn't take us too long to find out who attacked you." _I hope_. "Bobby says you were sprayed with pepper spray. Explains why you didn't go Jackie Chan on the guy's ass."

He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the bed, still holding her hand. "I talked to your family a few hours ago." He moved his right arm and rested his head on it. "I don't think they'll come to visit much, but I swear I won't leave you, even when you start using me as a punching bag to try and convince me to get you out of here." Marshall adjusted the chair to sit even closer to the bed, never once letting go of her hand. He continued to talk to her until he fell asleep.

* * *

It may have been ten o'clock in the morning, but after that hell hole of a night, Stan deserved some sleep, but somehow the sandman decided to skip a house. The twenty minute cat naps he had been having for the last three hours were as good as he was going to get. He did feel better after having a shower and something to eat. However, his real reason for not sleeping was that every time he closed his eyes, his mind would conjure up new ways to torture him. He kept seeing Mary being beaten in different ways. Mary and Marshall were the closest things to kids he has ever had, and they acted like it enough to be considered kids. Seeing either one hurt is enough to tear him into pieces.

Stan was back at the hospital. As he made his way through the crowded hallways, he put the dreams out of his mind as best he could. Some of them wouldn't leave for a long time yet. Coming to door 213, he turned the handle and quietly stepped through. What he saw instantly put a smile on his face. The first real smile he had had in what seemed like forever.

Marshall sat in a chair up tight against Mary's bed. He was sound asleep. His head was next to her hip and both of his hands were wrapped around Mary's smaller one. A lone tear crept its way down Stan's cheek. _This moment would have been so amazing if it wasn't for Mary lying in a hospital bed._ He pushed the tear away before closing the door, leaving the pair quietly sleeping as he left.


	4. Wake

**What a week... What a week. First off there was several little thunderstorms that have been wrecking havok in my small town. Power continuously goes out, internet went out like a light the second the first downpour started. Not to mention that me and a about five of my best friends were all celebrating our birthdays this week. Normally we run over to the closest Safeway, nab one of their shopping carts, take it over to Hollywood video and fill it up with movies to watch all week long, but with the power going out, we couldnt... I gave up trying to write on my computer within the first couple hours, and as this year was the year I was being a host to the week long party, I couldn't exactly break away to write. However, today, everyone is bored out of our wits (we were thrown out of the local library) and we've sort of started doing our own thing. My thing writing... with my beta reader, who's birthday is tomorrow, staring at my work over my shoulder the entire time, and continously moving my hand out of the way to scribble out things I write for something better. Maybe one of these times I'll take a picture of the result of the hardcopy's destruction, LOL. Hopefully, I'll be able to pull an allnighter tonight to give my dear beta reader a birthday present she'll love... the next chapter!**

_The pleasure part, the aftershock  
The moment it takes to fall apart  
The time we have, the task at hand  
The love it takes to destroy a man  
The ecstasy, the being free  
The big black cloud over you and me  
Stars: The Night Starts Here_

**

* * *

**

It had been five days since Mary's attack. Five days and they were no closer to catching Mary's attacker then they were when they found out about the pepper spray. Nothing they had pointed them towards a specific suspect. The CSI team had found that the blood on her hoodie came from a male, his blood type was AB negative, which is a relatively rare blood type, and the bad news out of that: his DNA wasn't in any database they could get they check.

The pepper spray which they thought would lead them somewhere turned out to be a bust. The chemical composition and the little tab that had been found near Mary's body turned out to be from a common brand that many college girls carried for protection. The weapon that was used has yet to be determined, but they knew it was round, but wasn't a pipe, bat, or anything cylindrical. It seemed that everything that should have lead them to something didn't. Marshall was beginning to feel like he would never find her attacker. Never get justice or revenge, as much for himself as for Mary. The fact that she still wasn't awake was not helping the situation either. Marshall knew that if he could just see her sharp brown eyes, he would find the resolve he needed to find this guy.

Now with the frustrating day put in the back of his mind, Marshall was once again heading to his partner's hospital room. He smiled reflexively at the familiar hospital staff as he went along. Stopping outside her door, he took a deep breath. _Please let her wake up. I don't know how much more of this I can take._

He walked in knowing that he would find Stan in the chair next to Mary's bed. Sure enough, he was there. After he noticed Marshall come in, he stood and stretched his cramped muscles.

"Hey Stan. How is she?" Marshall asked, his eyes never leaving Mary's face. The swelling and bruising had gone down significantly. Now there was just a yellowish brown color to her bruising where before it was dark purple.

"She's definitely improved. Dr. Kerrigan said she is moving her to a regular room tomorrow."

"That's great. She hasn't woken up yet has she?" The sad look that crossed Stan's eyes was all the answer Marshall needed. "I'm sick of not knowing. I'm going to find Dr. Kerrigan and demand some answers." The mere mention of the name seemed to have bidden the woman to enter the room. Both Stan and Marshall closed in on her.

"Dr. Kerrigan, why hasn't she woken up yet?"

The doctor could understand their concern and that was the reason she took no offense to the tone in which Marshall had spoken in. "Mr. Mann, it takes a lot of strength and energy for the human body to recover from this type of injury and Miss Shannon is healing faster than I had expected. The speed of healing and the type of healing is taking its toll."

"I know that but..." he stopped, not knowing what else to say.

At Marshall's sudden silence, Stan directed a question to the doctor. "Do you hae any idea when she will wake up?"

"It's hard to say Mr. Mcqueen. To be honest, I thought that she would be awake by now." She let out a sigh.

"It's been almost a week. She has to wake up soon." Marshall's words sounded like a plea to the doctor.

* * *

Mary could hear voices talking in the background. It wasn't the first time she could hear them, though it was the first time she could distinguish that there was more than one. Every other time she heard them, she ignored them, preferring to stay in the silent darkness. This time however, she was determined to listen to the voices and respond. She took a deep breath to clear the fuzziness in her mind, but immediately winced at the sharp pain in her left side. _Feels like my ribs are broken. I wonder what happened. _She turned her focus away from her inner thoughts and to her breathing.

After finding a comfortable breathing pattern, she concentrated once again on the voices she was hearing.

"I know that but..." she heard a male voice say. Not hearing anything for a while, she thought she had slipped back into the darkness until she heard another male voice.

"Do you have any idea when she will wake up?" _Okay, that voice is definitely familiar._

"It's hard to say Mr. Mcqueen..." That was all she heard as the name flashed in her mind. _Stan._ Now knowing the name of the man's voice she tried to open her eyes. It took longer than she had expected. When they first fluttered open, she had to close them again against the unexpected brightness. Slowly opening them a second time, she looked around the room. She noticed that she was in a little hospital bed and that her legs and left arm were in casts. _I wonder why it doesn't hurt more._ Looking to her right hand with the IV needle in it, she followed it up to the two bags on the rack. One of which was a pain killer. _Well that explains that question._

Turning her attention to the door, she could see Stan and Marshall. _He's here too._ They both had their backs to her. Licking her lips, she tried to speak. She worked her mouth but no sound came out. She swallowed a few times to get some sort of moisture in her mouth, and then tried again.

"Stan." The word was barely a gruff whisper, but even that small whisper was enough to cause a huge reaction.

Mary saw Stan up at the sound of his name, then whipped around to stare into her eyes. After staring at her for a minute, he ran over to her bedside.

"Mary, you're awake!" Stan said shakily. He was so relieved that Mary was awake that he could barely stop the tears that threatened to start falling down. Reaching out and grabbing Stan's hand to calm him down, Mary croaked out one word: "Water."

"Oh, yes, of course. Marhsall stop staring and make yourself useful: get Mary a glass of water!" Stan's voice seemed to have snapped him out of his state of shock. He practically ran to get her a glass of water. While the marshal was gone, Dr. Kerrigan took the time to examine her newly awoken patient. After shining a light into her eyes for a few moments, she put the pin light away, happy with the reaction she got.

"Well Miss Shannon, let me just say that you are a lucky woman. You're healing faster than expected and now that you are awake, the process will hopefully speed up."

She nodded slightly towards the doctor as she left and Marshall came in holding a plastic glass filled with water. Before she could even reach for the glass, he had placed it to her lips. When she was finished, she turned to the still silent Marshall.

"Are you going to say anything, or are you going to just stand there like a retard?" Her voice sounded tired and weak to her own ears. _It must be the drugs._ She was going to repeat her question thinking that maybe he hadn't heard her when he did the last thing she had expected. He laughed. Marshall let out a small laugh at first that turned into a loud echoing laugh. After a minute, Stan joined him. Now Mary was confused, and beginning to get pissed off. She couldn't understand why they were laughing.

At the look of confusion on her face, both men laughed harder. They had spent the last week in such a state of worry that seeing Mary awake finally was so overwhelming they could no longer contain their emotions. Finally, after regaining some composure, Marshall said, "You're awake." The tone in his voice clearly projected his relief and happiness.

"What? Do I make silly faces in my sleep? Drool?"

Stan shook his head still shaking, but this time in laughter, "Consider it some sort of emotional overload."

_I hope these drugs don't make me forget right now, as this could definitely be used as blackmail material,_ Mary chuckled to herself.

Stan turned to Marshall, "I'm going to give Bobby a call and tell him that she's awake." Once he nodded, Stan walked out, leaving Marshall and Mary alone.

Marshall's smile began to falter as he prepared himself to tell Mary about how he felt. "Mary, I..."

She cut him off, asking the one question that he didn't want to answer. "What happened, Marshall?" After a moment of his silence, she added, "To me, I mean."

"Mare, maybe we should wait until you're a little stronger." He hoped that for once she would agree with him.

"No, Marshall, I want to know." There was almost a pleading tone to her voice that he couldn't refuse.

"You were..." He swallowed hard before he continued. "Bobby found you beaten on the side of the road Sunday night." Her face went pale at his words. "Mare, we should wait unitl you're feeling stronger before we go into this." This time she nodded in agreement. "The doctor said that you may regain your memories of what happened in a few days, or you may not remember at all." _God, I hope you don't. I never want you to have to relive that. We'll find the guy without you having to remember the attack if I have it my way._ He noticed that she was exausted from the little conversation she had had with Stan and Marshall. She was fighting going back to sleep.

"Why don't you get some rest?"

She looked up at him when he spoke. "I'm not tired," she stated, clearly lying.

He sighed. He knew she was tired even if she didn't want to admit it.

"I'm not going anywhere, Mary. You can sleep and when you wake up, I'll be right here," he said sitting in the chair next to her bed, taking her hand into his.

She closed her eyes, whispering softly, "Thank you, Marshall." When he figured that she was finally asleep, Marshall got up and placed a soft kiss on her brow before sitting back down in the chair to wait for her to wake again.

**Next chapter will have some angst (but I'm planning on having some laughs in there as well, so don't worry about it being a downer of a chapter). Mary might have seemed out of character in this chapter, but we haven't really seen Mary in a situation such as this; A Fine Meth is as close as you could possibly get. I'm planning on having Mary back to her awesome kickass self soon!! :D**


	5. Lose Control

**Oh man, if you could have seen my beta reader's face when she unwrapped my present: the folder containing this chapter... you would have laughed your butt off. I think she looks forward to the new chapters getting finished just as much as you guys do, if not more. **

_Please don't believe me when I say I'm okay  
Look a little deeper for the words that I can't say  
__I'm too small to stand alone,  
__I sure could use a friend  
__Help me learn to trust someone again  
__Don't leave me  
__Please don't believe me  
__Alan O'Day: Please Don't Believe Me

* * *

_

_Walking back to the car, I heard a noise behind me. Turning, I saw no one. Must be my imagination. I didn't have much further to get to her car, the noise a forgotten memory. I stopped as I heard the noise again, and I turned around. When I turned around this time though, someone was there. I was suddenly blinded by a spray of mist in my face._

_My face felt like it was on fire. I couldn't open my eyes against the burning pain. I couldn't even breath properly. All I could think, dispite the burning, was no matter what happened: fight back! I felt someone grab my arm and I immediately threw my entire weight into an elbow delivered to the ribs of my attacker. I heard a grunt of pain. But now, I didn't have an idea as to where my attacker was, leaving me completely unprepared for the fist that had connected with my left cheek._

Mary jerked awake with a scream. Her scream quickly turned into a load moan of pain. In her panic to escape the attacker in her dream, she had forgotten about her injuries, and now they were screaming at her in full force.

At her scream, Marshall jumped from the chair he had been sitting in, knocking it over. He reached her just as she dropped back to the mattress. He reached out taking hold of her shoulders to keep her from moving and further injuring herself. His heart had twisted at the sound of terror in her scream, and then the sound of her pain. He had always seen her so strong and in control of herself that when he seen her scared, it made him hurt for her. He hated seeing her scared and vulnerable and scared.

Once she was a little more relaxed he released her shoulders. Stretching his hand up, he wiped away the tears that had made tracks down her cheeks.

"Shhhh. It's alright, Mare. I'm here. No one is going to hurt you." He carefully took her into his comforting arms so as not to hurt her. He gently removed one of the damp blonde ocks that clung to her face. Looking into her deep brown eyes, Marshall saw a fear in her eyes that he had only seen once before. He had seen that same look when she had been kidnapped by Spanky and just a split second before she recognized Marshall and Stan. "It's okay, Mary, I'm here for you," he whispered gently into her hair.

Her breathing was still erratic from her nightmar. With each breath she took, a stab o pain was quick to follow. Marshall could feel her wince in his arms at every breath. His concern for her injuries grew each time.

"Mary, maybe I should get the doctor."

She clutched him tighter with her one good arm at the thought of being alone even for that short amount of time. "No, Marshall." She was still softly crying. "Stay here with me, please," she pleaded. It didn't matter that Marshall was hearing her vunerable side. She knew that getting the doctor was probably best but she felt safe with Marshall. She didn't want that safety to leave just yet.

Marshall couldn't believe she was actually begging him to stay with her. Her nightmare had to be truly terrifying if she was pleading with him. _Nothing and no one makes Mary Shannon beg._ Her voice made one thing very clear to him: there was no way in the world that he would leave her this night or any other night.

"I'm not going anywhere, Mary," he said, pulling her to him as tightly as he dared considering her injuries. "Not even when you're sick of me. I'm just going to stay here and annoy you," he joked, trying to get her mind off her dream.

She chuckled at the joke but it turned into a soft moan due to the pain coming from her left side.

"Oh God, Mare. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," he said, his voice guilt ridden.

"Marshall, it's fine. it didn't hurt that much and I needed a laugh, however short lived it was." She smiled up at him to ease his mind.

After a while of him holding her, Marshall noticed that she had fallen back to sleep. Slowly he got up, gently unwrapped himself from her and slipped off the bed. Before sitting back in the chair, he picked up the blankets and tucked them around her.

* * *

The next time that Mary woke, her room had changed. The doctors had moved her into a single room while she was asleep. Looking around the room, she saw a forest of flowers. She couldn't believe the amount of flowers that sat on the window sill, and the various other stands in the room. _Any more flowers and I could start my own florist shop. _Continuing her inspection of the room, she noticed three additional people to the two she had seen in her room the night before. Marshall and Stan were off to the side talking to Bobby, Brandi, and a very quiet Jinx.

Before Mary had a chance to speak, Brandi glanced towards her. A smile began to spread across her face as she looked at the wide awake marshal and she ran over to the bed and hugged her sister tightly. Mary winced in pain, but kept all noises from trying to pass through her lips.

"Mary, you should have said you were awake. We wouldn't have been so rude and ignored you." The four other heads swiveled in her direction.

Marshall stepped forward, placing his hand on Brandi's shoulder, her que to let go, allowing Mary to recover from the pain Brandi unknowingly caused. "You okay?" he mouthed to her.

She nodded. Stan grinned as he asked, "When's the escape planned for? Need any help?"

Mary chuckled lightly, but ended up holding her side."Hopefully soon. Just don't make me laugh for a while, or I'll be temped to stay just for the pain meds." Everyone else laughed and Marshall gave a sheepish look, remembering the night before. Their worried faces soon returned and it was obvious none of them believed that she was fine. It was true that she was sore and achy but that was hardly anything. _Imagnie what it would be like if I weren't on pain medication_, she thought.

"It's ten o'clock, shouldn't most of you be at work?"

Bobby jumped, "It's ten already? Oh crap, I've got a meeting with my boss this morning." He pulled Marshall's arm. "If we don't leave now, I'm..." Mary and the others smiled at Bobby in his state of panic. Before leaving Marshall said, "I'll be back with lunch. Real food, not this cardboard tasting stuff that they seem to think is food." Bobby and Marshall left the room allowing silence to descend once again.

After a minute of awkward silence, Brandi and Jinx hurriedly made to say their goodbyes and left. Mary watched as Stan took a seat next to her.

"Don't you have to go to work as well?"

"Uhhuh," Stan smirked. "You aren't get rid of me that easily. Besides this can count as a family emergency."

They were interrupted by a nurse knocking on the door. Walking in, she carried a tray and set it on the side table that could be swung over the bed, closer to the patient in it. "Ah, Miss Shannon, it's nice to see that you are back among the living again."

Mary rolled her eyes and sent a smile over in Stan's direction.

"Okay, the doctor said you can start eating today so I brought you some breakfast." She gestured to the tray she had set down moments before. As she left, Stan took the cover off.

Mary looked down at the so called breakfast dubiously. Taking the fok with her right hand, she tentatively took a bite of what she guess was supposed to be eggs. Swallowing, she looked back to Stan. "Marshall's right. This stuff definitely tastes like carboard."

Stan just laughed.

**See, my beta reader here would love to have some reviews as a birthday present. She wants to know how well she did editing this chapter, so if you could slip a little note before you leave my story, she would absolutely adore you. :)**


	6. In The End

****

Okay first off, this is an abnormally large authors note, so if you don't care to read it, go ahead and skip down to the normal print. For those of you who don't seem to mind reading mentally insane (trust me, they will become it) author's notes, read on!

So, um, my beta reader. First off, she's not the speller type of a beta reader. See, she has Dysgraphia which means her spelling is pretty much terrible. However, she's got a vocabulary that's ten times the size of mine which means that she is allowed the spot of Beta-reader to make the story better, just not in the spelling sense. The first chapter? That wasn't betaed. If she hadn't been betaing my work you would have ended up with a really fast and short story that would probably be over right now. She's there to tell me 'Hey you're going way to fast there!' 'Put more emphasis on that paragraph.' 'Describe that moment some more!' And then she'll go over, cross out paragraphs and sentences she doesn't like and then add sentences and change words into better ones. And yes alyssum32, I do need to read over what I type, as I have this extremely crappy keyboard which causes me to hit several dozen keys when I'm trying to hit one. I try and fix a majority of it, but as some of you have noticed, some have slipped through the cracks. It's good to know though that most of the mistakes aren't that terrible by the fact that some of you haven't found any of the mistakes. I've found some of the mistakes in the beginning few chapters (haven't managed to get to the last two). I suspect there are still more laying around, but hey, we're all human right? Don't worry, in about a week I'm getting a new keyboard that'll hopefully be better!! :D

My beta reader is also my researcher, and she and I have been focused on the case these past couple weeks. We have been extremely busy working on figuring out every aspect of this case. In other words, we know who attacked Mary and why, we know all the little details that will eventually lead us to the person, and of course the most gruesome part of the story... we know all of the exact details of the attack. However, we know exactly how she was attacked, and by exactly how, we know exactly which areas of her body the person hit her to cause the breaks, and we know a bit of information about the force it would take for it to happen, but unless you are an expert you can't really know for sure. I got a few of my other friends to reenact it so we could video tape it so we could use it to recall the details (obviously without hitting the other) and let me tell you, just watching them... it was scary. Thankfully, the most you'll have to do is read about it, and while I hope you don't get your jollies from reading about the attack, I do hope you all can enjoy the chapter as much as you can... considering.

One last thing about my beta reader (I'm gonna call her MBR pretty soon... LOL), just yesterday and today I have learned of a new job that she has as my beta reader. When it comes to things I don't like writing, I tend to become a perfectionist (hence the wait time on this chapter). This entire week she has been constantly nagging me saying that I've done a good job and now it's her turn to look it over, but as a slight perfectionist, I continued to refuse. Yesterday, I was working some more on perfecting the chapter when I had to take a bathroom break, and she seriously stole my computer, forced me to go on a high speed car chase in my pajamas, lost me for a half hour due to my being pulled over by a cop, and in that time hooked my computer back up only for her to email it to her own email account and completely delete it from my computer. Then when I got a hold of her, she held my computer hostage and once I have left this chapter on fanfiction for a full day and give you all time to review, she will allow me to get it back. The wait is just to stop me from removing the chapter and fixing it up some more. Once she was finished betaing it, she has allowed me access to her computer only to allow me to say this really long author's note, and beta her betaing. If I would even think about writing more words or sentences, she seriously would act like my mom and take away my computer for five whole minutes!! (Trust me, it definitely seems like an hour waiting for that five minutes to be up, so I learned very quickly)

I think AN is long enough so I'll let you go. Enjoy!

_And all the things that you never ever told me  
And all the smiles that are ever gonna haunt me  
Never coming home, never coming home  
Could I? Should I?  
And all the wounds that are ever gonna scar me  
For all the ghosts that are never gonna catch me  
My Chemical Romance: The Ghost of You_

* * *

Bobby and Marshall sat in the two stel framed chairs across from Bobby's boss. Even though they had left Mary's hospital room as soon as she had mentioned work, they still managed to be twenty minutes late for the meeting with the Captain. Bobby felt like a kid that thad been dragged in to see the principal for misbehaving. He stared resolutely ahead and waited for the Captain to address him.

When he was finally able to turn his attention to the two cops in front of him, he promptly asked, "How much have you found out about this case?"

"We know that the place she was found was not the place where she was attacked. The CSI guys haven't been able to find the weapon used to beat Inspector Shannon, but they have ruled out the usual suspects. They found blood on her clothing that belongs to an unknown male."

"So her attacker was a man," the Captain said to himself more than to Bobby.

"We can't rule out a female, but yeah, I'd say male."

"Go on."

"There was traces of pepper spray around the collar of her hooded sweatshirt."

The Captain grew confused, "Pepper spray?"

"Yes sir," Marshall cut in. "It's most likely, knowing Mary, that she was sprayed by her attacker so he could get the upper hand."

"Hold on. So you're saying that Inspector Shannon was attacked but that the attacker had to somehow subdue her first?"

"Yes. Sir, if you don't mind my asking, why are you so focused on the pepper spray?" Bobby asked. "I agree that it's unique, but they discovered that it was a common brand that many women carry for their own protection."

"It's just reminding me of a case, well three cases actually, that crossed my desk last month. Three woman were found dead; each had been left in abandoned areas. All three were thought to have been sprayed with pepper spray before they were murdered. The pathologist found minute traces of pepper spray on their faces and hair," the captain replied.

"So there is a good possibility that this guy is the same guy that attacked Mary?" Marshall asked, elated to possibly have a break in the case. While the fact that the guy had attacked someone else before was a sad thought, it meant that the CSI crew would have more evidence to work with.

Bobby nodded, the same thoughts going through his mind.

"They may be related, Inspector Mann, but those women had their wrists and ankles bound," the captain stopped, not sure how Marshall would react to the next part. "And their throats were slashed after being raped." Not seeing the reaction he was watching for, he continued, "Your partner was found beaten on the side of the road."

"Yes, but she fought back. I know that given the circumstances, it would have been hard for the women to fight back, but trust me. I know Mary and I know she fought back. She could have been taking her last breath and she would have fought back. How else would you explain the blood found on her clothing?"

"That's true. She's a tough one." After a moments thought, the captain spoke again. "Detective, I want you to take these three cases and the evidence from them and send them to CSI. IF they are conneced to Inspector Shannon's case, then they will need the extra evidence."

The captain dismissed them and both hopped out of their seats. Marshall couldn't wait to catch this guy. He just hoped that the guy would be stupid enough to attack him so it would give him an excuse to shoot the bastard.

* * *

As Bobby pulled out of the parking lot, Marshall pulled out the case files and began looking them over. It never failed to amaze him at how someone could forcibly take another's life, no matter how many times he saw it. He was reading what had been done to the three women, and it sickened him. The more he read, the more he realized that these same disgusting actions could have been done to his partner. As he shuffled through the pictures, he realized that each and every one of them looked similar to Mary. However, there was something else familiar to him, but he couldn't place it just yet, but he knew it would come to him eventually. He started going over pathologist's reports that were placed with the files. Each report was pretty much a carbon copy of each other. Bruising and abrasions on the wrists and ankles suggested that they had been bound for some time before they were killed. The reports also noted tearing and bruising consistent with violent rape. Marshall had to close his eyes and fight the bile that was swiftly attempting to rise. It just wasn't right for a woman's life, or anyone'se life for that matter, to end that way. Once the bile began to go away, he hurriedly closed the files and put them back inside their boxes.

* * *

Markus Garfield, the quite literal genius of the crew and a lot like Marshall in the aspect that he knew a lot about everything, was easily spotted in his office, most likely looking over Mary's x-rays. Bobby and Marshall's target was, however, Elizabeth Kirkus, the chief medical examinor/pathologist. The two were attempting to juggle the three files and the accompanying large evidence boxes for each while trying to open Elizabeth's office door. Just as the boxes were about to fall from their lack of coordination that they didn't have to begin with, Elizabeth turned the corner and noticed them struggling with the boxes. Immediately she ran over and grabbed the top box, relieving both men from the stress of trying to balance it on top of both of their boxes.

"Need some help there?" she asked after taking the box.

"Thanks Liz," Bobby grinned as he was finally able to grasp the door nob and open the door.

"So is this new evidence on Inspector Shannon's case?" she asked after setting the box next to her desk.

After plopping their boxes next to the other one, Bobby handed her three copies of the case files. "It might be related but we're not sure yet. That's where you guys come in. When I told the captain about the pepper spray, he remembered three other cases he had seen where pepper spray was used on the victims. So if there's not a connection, it will be a huge coincidence."

"So let me guess. He kicked the cases to you in the hopes that we might find something?"

They heard a loud clap come from behind them, and they turned to see Markus clapping his forehead like he had completley forgotten something.

"That's why I didn't see it before. She was beaten so badly and the patterns showed blunt force trauma. Why hadn't I connected this together before? It's so obvious when you think about it."

"Markus," Bobby said calmly, hoping to calm the frenzied doctor as they ran to keep up with the doctor as he ran back down the hall to his office.

"I mean the patterns, the shape, and the amount of force that would need to be used to cause the breaks. It all fits perfectly together. I'm positive I can come up a scenario that fits in with m..."

"Markus!" Bobby yelled, finally getting the young man to stop. "What are you talking about?" He asked now that he had Markus's attention.

"I know what was used on Inspector Shannon!" he answered. Bobby, Marshall, and Elizabeth all gave him a 'come on and tell us' look.

"I should thank you Dr. Kirkus; you're the one that gave me the clue that I needed. When you said..."

"Markus, enough! What was the weapon?" Bobby's irriation was showing deeply in his voice.

Markus shuffled his feet slightly at Bobby's tone. "I believe that it was steel toed boots," he said finally. At the look of disbelief he got from Bobby and Marshall, Markus elaborated. "The breaks and fractures on Inspector Shannon's x-rays showed that she suffered blunt force trauma. After studying the x-rays further, I discovered that the patterns were somewhat rounded so we immediately went with the idea that a weapon was used. What I hadn't taken into consideration was that the attacker could have been kicking her. Initially, I ruled it out because the force that would be needed would not ahve been enough wearing regular shoes. But when Dr. Kirkus said 'kicked' I began to think though different uses of the term, which led me to different kinds of shoes and then to steel toed shoes. If the attacker were wearing steel toed boots, then the necessary force would be there to create the type of breaks and fractures on Inspector Shannon's x-rays."

"So what I've got from you there was I'm looking for a pair of bloody steel toed boots," Bobby asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Do you think you can find out the brand of the shoe, size and build of the attacker from this revelation of yours?"

"I'll need to make a visit or two to see the Inspector, but I believe I can."

"Alright, I want you guys to work on the new evidence in the boxes I brought over."

"You got a dead body in those boxes?" Elizabeth asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"No. Why?" Bobby was a little confused by her comment.

"I look at dead bodies, Bobby." It was her way of telling him that this type of evidence was not her specialty, that it was the other crew's area.

"You can still help," his tone made what he said a demand.

"Yes, Bobby, I can help and I am, but the evidence will have to go through the other guys. I will look over the case files, but what I really need is the pathologist's original reports on each woman, the recordings that they did during during the autopsies." She didn't like what she was about to say, but it may be the only way of making sure they got what they needed. "If I have to, I will also get an exhumation order to gather more evidence from the women's bodies."

"That's all I'm asking for," Bobby smiled softly. He turned to Marshall. "You want me to drop you off at the hospital?"

He nodded and with swift goodbyes, they hurried back outside to the car.

* * *

Marshall walked down the familiar halls of Albuquerque General Hospital. It seemed like he spent at least half of his time in the hospital. He couldn't remember the last time he actually slept in his house. Since the first night he got that horrible call, he had spent every night by Mary's side. He had even taken to keeping an extra set of clothes in his SUV.

Coming closer to her door, Marshall shifted the items he was carrying so he would be able to open the door. Turning the handle he walked in and announced, "I come bearing gifts!" He wasn't kidding. In one arm he carried the food he promised and in the other was holding a two foot tall teddy bear.

Hearing his voice, both Stan and Mary turned to see what he was talking about. When they saw the teddy bear he carried, Mary gasped. It was adorable. The bear's fur was the same chocolate brown as Marshall's eyes and hair, and had a beige muzzle and pads. Stan smirked when he had seen the bear knowing that Marshall had gotten it for Mary. He may say it was a way of saying that he hoped she got better soon, but Stan knew it was his way to show Mary his feelings for her.

After her initial shock wore off, Mary said a little disbelievingly, "You brought me a teddy bear."

Marshall grinned, "Of course, Mare. I thought that it would cheer you up. I know you hate being here so I figured I'd get you something to make the stay more bearable." He made sure that he was at least a foot out of her arm's range in case she attempted to punch him for his pun. "I would have bought you flowers, but you already have the mother load of those, so I went for cute, soft and cuddly instead." She just stared at him when he said cute, soft and cuddly.

"How did you know that I even liked teddy bears? My own mother doesn't even know that!" Now it was Stan and Marshall's turn to be shocked. It appeared that the drugs she was being forced to take were helping her to reveal some of her secrets.

Stan couldn't help but smirk at the irony. One of his best and kickass marshals was a sucker for teddy bears. Who would have thought?

Smiling, Marshall walked closer to the bed and handed Mary the teddy bear. After inspecting the toy, Mary smiled up at Marshall, "He's adorable, Marshall, but that's not going to stop you from at least showing me what food you brought."

Stan stood, deciding to leave his marshals in peace. "I'm going to go home and rest up. You two kids can continue doing whatever it is that you're doing," he said, referencing back to when Marshall had interrupted Eleanor and me when we were going over something involving the new setup she was hoping to get. Before opening the door out of the room, he looked back to see... Marshall blushing slightly? Much to Marshall's relief, Mary was too entranced by the food and the teddy bear that she didn't even hear the last half of Stan's sentence. Once the food was placed in front of her, it didn't take her long to take a bite.

"Thank god! Real food!"

Marshall couldn't help but laugh at her statement or the small sound that escaped her when she had tasted the food. "Hospital food that bad huh, Mare?"

Stopping the fork an inch from her mouth, Mary said, "You weren't kidding about the taste. It was like cardboard. Actually, no, it wasn't. I'm one hundred percent positive cardboard would have tasted better." The fork finished it's trek to her mouth.

Marshall smiled and shook his head at his partner. He sat down in the chair next to her and began eating his half of the meal.

**A quick little thing I think I should say. If it takes me a full week to update, I probably have things going on IRL, and if it takes me two weeks to update, I am either being a perfectionist or I have a really good reason for not writing. If I am stuck and can't figure out what to write, I will either send a PM to those of you on story alert and/or those who reviewed if not do one of those author's notes chapters. Have a great rest of the week now that Monday is over! WooHoo!!!**


	7. Author's Note

**Hiya's everyone. As you can tell by the extreme shortness of this that yes, this is my author's note chapter. Um, yeah I'm trying to figure out what to do for the chapter but I am just drawing a blank. It's too soon IMO to start seriously moving, but I can't figure out what to do for filler chapters with some more slight information until I'm ready to get the ball rolling. Just about everyone I know has been recruited as being my muse for the next few chapters so hopefully something will pop up soon.**

**Apologize for the wait and I hope I can return to you soon with a new chapter!**


End file.
